


Case One: Carlos DeVil

by MelyndaR



Series: Auradon Social Services: Isle of the Lost Division [2]
Category: 101 Dalmatians (1961), Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Abusive Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians), Cruella's only mentioned in conversations about, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:40:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25582258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: “Do I have your permission to… perhaps invite you each to dinner, or to meet up for coffee or tea, when I have families for you?”One by one, Jay, Evie, and Carlos nodded at Mrs. Radcliffe.
Relationships: Anita (101 Dalmatians) & Roger (101 Dalmatians) & Carlos de Vil, Carlos de Vil & Original Female Character(s), Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil
Series: Auradon Social Services: Isle of the Lost Division [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854097
Comments: 10
Kudos: 240





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to Anita, and it feels more like the real start to this series.   
> I've had it sitting in my drafts for almost exactly a year, and after recently finishing Gang Activity, I found myself wanting to spend some more time revisiting this fandom, so I started with finishing this, and I currently have plans to dive back in and continue this series as a whole. In fact, as things stand right now, I'm working on a whole other trilogy in the same universe as this.   
> But I digress. For now, here's this, and I promise the stories and the universe as a whole will be dived into a little deeper as stories go along; I did it on purpose, so that we can all discover together how horrid the Isle and it's inhabitants are! Sounds fun, right?!  
> I love to hear from my readers, if you guys feel inclined to leave a comment!

Carlos raised his eyebrows at Mal in a silent question as she approached Ben’s office from the opposite direction as Evie, Jay, and himself. He held up his phone, displaying the group text Ben had sent to the four of them. “Do you know what this is about?”

Mal shook her head. “I left him a little while ago with a woman who looked like she was from Little London.”

Little London, a place that was half frozen in time by way of its fashion and architecture in a strange mixture of the first forty-five years of the twentieth century. It was a place Carlos had never cared to travel to, even if it wasn’t far away; he was too attached to his tech, he’d realized a long time ago. Besides that, Little London was the home of the Darling family – Wendy, John, and Michael Darling, and their families – and the Radcliffe family.

So, Carlos felt it was pretty reasonable to say he wouldn’t soon be going to Little London, even though he had no problem meeting an average Joe or Jane from the area.

Except, when the four of them entered Ben’s office, it was no average Jane sitting across from the king. Carlos had seen a picture of this woman in the exhibit the museum had on his mother.

It was Anita Radcliffe.

Carlos’ eyes widened, and he was proud of himself for not gasping or squawking as he ducked out of sight behind Jay.

“Guys,” Carlos heard Ben stand. “This is Mrs. Anita Radcliffe. Mrs. Radcliffe, this is Lady Mal, Jay, Evie Grimhilde, and…” Ben faltered before he asked, “Carlos?”

“Uh,” he took a couple steps out from behind Jay, offering her an awkward little wave. “Hi.”

Ben smiled fondly for a second, the gesture momentarily breaking past his professional, kingly bearing as he said, “And this is Carlos De Vil.”

 _Then_ worry flashed through Ben’s eyes, _then_ he realized who they were to one another and what was happening. Mrs. Radcliffe gave Ben an understanding, calming smile before she turned that same expression to the VKs, and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“And to meet you, too,” Evie said, the first of the four to break away from their instinctual concern. Mal’s jaw was tight – she was ready for a fight – Jay’s hand was a hairsbreadth away from Carlos’ arm – ready to drag him to safety – and Carlos was pretty sure he wasn’t breathing exactly right. But Evie continued as if she didn’t notice any of the uncertainty in the air surrounding her friends, “Your designs are so classic and elegant.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Radcliffe smiled in happy surprise. “Thank you very much. Though I’m afraid you quite clearly have the eye of the vast majority of your own generation. You’re very talented, Miss Grimhilde.”

“Thank you so much!” Evie replied, grinning broadly.

“Of course. But,” Mrs. Radcliffe glanced at Ben. “I’m not here to discuss my design work today, actually. Later, certainly, I would love to—” she gave Evie a sincere look, making sure it was understood that she meant it. “But today I’ve come with an idea of something that I might be able to do for you, if you would like – or, for Miss Grimhilde, Jay, and Mr. DeVil, according to his majesty.”

“What’s that?” Jay asked cautiously.

Suddenly Ben asked with a furrow in his brow, “Do you feel like you’re missing out on having families – parents – in Auradon? Is it… awkward for you to come to the castle on breaks instead of going to… a home, a family?”

All four VKs turned to him with varying expressions of confusion.

“No,” Mal said after a beat of silence. “I don’t think so. I feel like your parents… have taken me in as a sort of daughter of their own, and that’s more than what I’d ever expected. Your family is more than enough of a ‘traditional’ family for me.”

Ben smiled softly at her. “That’s what I said. I’m really glad you feel that way.” His gaze clouded with worry once again as he looked at the other three, asking, “And you?”

There was another, longer beat of silence before Jay asked hesitantly, “Honestly?”

“Of course.” Ben nodded, surprise at the question flashing across his face.

Jay shoved his hands deep into his pockets, shuffling forward a step with a frown. “Honestly… I’m glad you’re happy staying here, Mal, but I’m not welcome here. Half of your staff, Ben, makes it _very_ clear that they don’t want me here, at the palace, around the royals’ valuable things that I could steal.”

“I’m sure that’s misplaced loyalty talking,” Ben said quickly. “If you’ll give me a list of the people causing trouble for you, I can talk—”

Jay was already shaking his head. “I have thicker skin than that; I can deal with it. You asked how we felt about having… homes to go to in Auradon, and, personally, if I could go to a… home where everyone there could _trust_ me to be the decent person I’m _trying_ to be, yeah, I would like that.”

Ben swallowed, faltering as he said, “But surely you understand that no house, no household – let alone one this big – is tailored to—to accept a reformed thief. That must be a learning curve for them, right?”

“Ben.” Mal moved to take her boyfriend’s hand now, saying soothingly, “I think you’re taking that more personally than Jay meant it.”

Jay nodded his agreement. “It’s nothing against you, Ben, it just… is what it is. You asked how I feel, and I told you, nothing more.”

“Please,” Mrs. Radcliffe said. “The last thing I want is to cause problems; I came to help.”

“Of course.” Ben visibly calmed, giving Mrs. Radcliffe, Jay, and Mal an apologetic smile as he promised, “There won’t be problems – at least not from me. Evie, Carlos, what do you think about having a family in Auradon?”

“Can I take Dude?” Carlos asked.

“Who’s… Dude?” Mrs. Radcliffe asked.

“Our school mascot – a dog – but he and Carlos have become especially close,” Ben answered with a fond smile.

“To the family I have in mind for you, I’m sure they’d be willing to give Dude a home, too,” Mrs. Radcliffe answered Carlos with a smile.

“You already have homes in mind for each of us?” Evie asked.

Mrs. Radcliffe nodded. “I haven’t talked to most of them yet, but, yes, I do.”

“’ _Most_ ’ of them,” Mal repeated, asking, “Who _have_ you talked to, then?”

One of Mrs. Radcliffe’s eyebrows twitched. “How observant of you,” she said approvingly. “Smart girl. Technically, I haven’t talked to anyone yet – I thought it prudent to get your approval first – but there are a couple of people who… know the conversation is coming.”

One of Mrs. Radcliffe’s dalmatians looked at her intently, then, and the other stood and moved to nudge Carlos’ hand with a hopeful whine. “Hi there, girl,” he murmured, petting her head. “Good girl… Perdita?”

Mrs. Radcliffe nodded. “The one and only.” Then she changed the subject, asking with a glance at Evie, Jay, and Carlos, “Do I have your permission to… perhaps invite you each to dinner, or to meet up for coffee or tea, when I have families for you?”

One by one, Jay, Evie, and Carlos nodded.

“Wonderful! I’ll be in touch, then.”

“That’s not all, though,” Ben said before the VKs could leave. “Mrs. Radcliffe would also be willing to help us choose what VKs are brought over to Auradon from the Isle.”

“Would she?” Evie asked curiously, her sudden skepticism well-concealed.

“In a manner of speaking, if it’s needed, yes,” Mrs. Radcliffe replied.

“That’s… nice,” Mal said. “But, honestly, I think we’re all ninety percent agreed on who the next four are going to be already.”

Carlos, for his part, had been letting his friends battle that out with one another. But Mal was right; by now they were _almost_ in agreement on who each of the next four should be.

“Well,” uncertainty flashed through Mrs. Radcliffe’s eyes before it was replaced by her characteristic poise. “That’s very good. Maybe we could revisit the topic for the group after that one, but for now… families for the three of you will be my focus.”

Ben stood, the signal that the meeting really was over, and shook Mrs. Radcliffe’s hand. “Thank you.”

“It’ll be my pleasure, your majesty. Thank you for seeing me today.”

“Of course.”

Perdita licked Carlos’ hand once more and followed Mrs. Radcliffe as the woman left with a parting smile for the VKs.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hello?” Carlos asked, picking up his phone the next afternoon. The caller ID had read “Anita Radcliffe,” but surely, she hadn’t already found a family who was willing to take him in.

“Mr. De Vil, this is Anita Radcliffe. Would you be able to come to dinner at some point this week?”

Carlos hesitated at the vague, if expected, question before asking, “Does that mean you’ve already found a family for me to live with?”

“I have, yes, and now, of course, I’d like to make sure it’s a family you’re willing to go to. Do you have an evening free this week?”

“Ah… actually, tonight might be the only free time I have this week. I’ve got tourney practice, omputer club, and homework during the school week.”

“Would you be willing to come to my house tonight, then?”

He froze, even though Mrs. Radcliffe couldn’t see that fact. “I… guess that’ll work. If it’s not too much trouble for you.”

“Oh, none at all. Could you be here at 5:30?”

“Sure, I’ll see you then.”

“We’ll see you then.”

_Alright. So, apparently, he was going to see Little London…_

* * *

As it turned out, going to the Radcliffe’s spur of the moment was the best thing Carlos could’ve done for his nerves. He barely had time to _get_ anxious before it was time for him to go to the address Mrs. Radcliffe had sent him.

In short order, Jay drove him there and dropped him off with an affectionate slug to the shoulder. Carlos found himself at a house in a residential part of Little London, and that’s when he realized he was going to have dinner at the Radcliffe’s _home_. With all their dogs around.

 _No big deal,_ he told himself. _He could do this. He’d been working on his fear of dogs, and if he could make friends with Dude, he could make friends with a bunch of Dalmatians._

Carlos’ self-soothing was put to the test, though, when the front door opened as he came up the walk and a dozen Dalmatians poured out of the house ahead of Mrs. Radcliffe. A number of those dogs ignored Carlos, but Pongo, Perdita, and a third Dalmatian headed right for him.

“Welcome,” Mrs. Radcliffe called. “Come in, Carlos! Feel free to tell the dogs to leave you be if you’d rather; I forget by now that they can be so off-putting, especially in such large quantities.”

Even as she gave him permission to tell them to get lost, Perdita licked his hand again before worming her head underneath his hand for petting.

“They’re okay,” Carlos decided, coming up the front steps.

One of his eyebrows ticked as he noticed a solitary cat lounging in the front window, but slender hands pulled the cat out of his sight as the dog whose name he didn’t know started leaning into him.

“I’m glad,” Mrs. Radcliffe declared, letting him in with a gentle smile. Shutting the door behind Carlos, she gestured to the man at her side. “This is my husband, Roger, and—” she paused, looking around the wood-paneled entryway. “Where’s Annie? Annie?”

“Right here, Mother,” Annie Radcliffe declared, coming from the living room with sedate steps and a cat in her arms.

“Carlos,” Mrs. Radcliffe finished her introductions. “This is mine and Roger’s daughter, Annette. Annie, this is Carlos De Vil.”

“We know each other,” Carlos realized. “We have English class together. You always know the all the answers, and I don’t.”

Annie gave him a small smile, looking only slightly more impressed than her cat did. “Something like that.”

“The way Annie tells the story, you get better grades in your coding elective than anyone else, though,” Mr. Radcliffe said.

Carlos didn’t comment on the fact that the Radcliffes had apparently talked about him at some point, because he couldn’t see the remark leading the conversation anywhere particularly good. Instead, he just shrugged modestly. “You’re definitely a more well-rounded academic, Annie.”

“What an interesting way to phrase that,” Mrs. Radcliffe said before adding briskly, “But we all have our strengths and weaknesses, of course.” Then, “Come in, Carlos, and make yourself at home. Supper is already on the table, everyone, so let’s head in that direction, shall we?”

All at once, Carlos suddenly saw that Anita Radcliffe was a force of nature, the quiet kind, who could get things done at dizzying speeds without even being noticed. _Like Jane,_ he thought, and smiled as he walked beside Annie to the dining room table.

The dog who’d pressed itself against his thigh was still there as they walked, Carlos stroking her head absently as he asked Annie, “What’s her name?”

Looking at the dog at his side, Annie shrugged after a beat, admitting, “I’m not sure who’s who. With most of them, I have to check the tags on their collars.”

“Annie’s not very fond of our pups,” Mr. Radcliffe said as he passed through the dining room doorway.

Suddenly the dogs stopped in the doorway, all three of them lying down where they could see their owners without coming into the room. Even the cat leapt from Annie’s arms and began to bathe itself instead of moving along.

“This and the kitchen are the only rooms where animals aren’t allowed,” Mrs. Radcliffe said, noting Carlos’ look of confusion as the four of them sat at the table.

“And dogs aren’t allowed in my room, either,” Annie added.

“But in any case,” Mr. Radcliffe continued. “That ole girl laying with her parents is Lily.”

“Roger, she’s not old,” Mrs. Radcliffe objected, though her eyes sparkled with her teasing.

“That’s not even what I said, love.” Mr. Radcliffe patted his wife’s hand with a smile as he began to fill the dinner plates. “Our silly Lily, Carlos, doesn’t always like living here, I’m afraid.”

“She’s more like _Ill Lil_ ,” Annie pointed out, not exactly unkind.

“Annie’s right,” Mrs. Radcliffe said a little pityingly. “Lily doesn’t always like living in such a busy household with all the other dogs.”

Pongo nudged Lily insistently, until the younger dog got up and walked away.

Carlos realized why he’d wanted her to leave when Mrs. Radcliffe continued, “We’ve tried to rehome her to a quieter home where she might be more at ease, but no one wants her because of the markings on her face, so we keep her and we love her.”

“’The markings on her face?’” Carlos repeated in confusion.

“Did you notice how her face is half black and half white, Mrs. Radcliffe asked.

“I noticed, but I didn’t think it was important.”

Mr. Radcliffe rolled his eyes a little as he explained, “The markings aren’t considered acceptable for her pedigree, and since she doesn’t look like she’s supposed to, the people of Auradon aren’t really inclined to give her a chance at first glance.”

 _He knew how she felt,_ Carlos thought dryly. _Except he was here because Mrs. Radcliffe had found a family who did want him, right?_ He almost asked her about it right then, but he didn’t. He had a feeling that she would get to the point of this dinner when she was ready.


	3. Chapter 3

Carlos did his best to go with the flow of the intimate family meal, relaxing into his surroundings with time. Observing the Radcliffe family, he quickly began to understand some things about each of them.

He and Annie were surprisingly alike, both outwardly quiet, quietly brilliant, and, he had a feeling, inwardly sarcastic.

Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe were a wonderful – and wonderfully funny – contrast to one another, Mr. Radcliffe with his wit, sarcasm, and quietly devil-may-care attitude, and Mrs. Radcliffe delighting in his antics while making sure they didn’t go too far. She also made sure that their lives kept marching on exactly as they should even amid their Dalmatian-filled chaos. He aspired to be the level of put together that Anita Radcliffe appeared to be, he decided.

At the end of the meal, Carlos found himself alone in the kitchen with Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe as Annie slipped away with her cat, Grimm, to do her homework. As Mrs. Radcliffe rolled up the sleeves of her Victorian blouse and began to do the dishes, Carlos volunteered, “I can dry the dishes for you, if you want.”

“Oh! Thank you,” Mrs. Radcliffe replied.

“I’ll put them away, then,” Mr. Radcliffe added.

The three of them began to do the dishes in surprisingly comfortable silence, and out of his peripheral vision, Carlos watched Mrs. Radcliffe sort through something that was on her mind.

“So, Carlos,” Mr. Radcliffe said into the silence. “Do you happen to have family in the good ole US of A?”

“No. My mom, aunt, and cousin are all on the Isle.”

Mr. Radcliffe nodded thoughtfully before asking with a care that Carlos wouldn’t have originally attributed to him, “What about your father?”

Carlos shrugged, answering honestly, “I don’t even know who he is.”

“Cruella never even gave you his name?” Mrs. Radcliffe asked gently.

Carlos shook his head. “He was just one of her boytoys, she said, some pirate or another who was beneath mentioning.”

Mrs. Radcliffe hummed before revealing, “Her majesty Queen Belle recommended this week that I get in contact with a teacher on the Isle, a Mr. Yin Sid, and I’ve begun a correspondence with him regarding issues of importance to the ILD. Do you think he might have any idea who your father is?”

“I doubt it,” Carlos admitted, wary of contradicting the adults in the room. “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

“I think I’ll do that, then,” Mrs. Radcliffe said. There was a pause, then, and Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe locked eyes seriously over Carlos’ head before Mrs. Radcliffe asked Carlos gently, “In the meantime, and failing finding a willing family member of yours here in the States, how would you feel about spending your weekends and holidays here, with us?”

Carlos blinked a little uncomprehendingly. “Here? With you?” _With the_ Radcliffes _?_

Mrs. Radcliffe nodded as Mr. Radcliffe asked, “What do you say?”

“I’m sure you have questions, though,” Mrs. Radcliffe allowed.

“Well,” Carlos stuttered. “I…I—yeah.”

“We’ll answer any questions we possibly can,” Mrs. Radcliffe prompted gently.

Carlos suddenly had a _lot_ of questions, and he took a second to decide where to start before he asked, “Where would I sleep?” _Because he wasn’t about to submit to being waved off towards a closet as a bedroom again if that was what the Radcliffes had to offer him. He couldn’t_ handle _small spaces like that anymore._

“Our spare bedroom would become your room,” Mrs. Radcliffe didn’t miss a beat, because _of course_ she had a plan.

“Can I bring Dude, my dog, when I come?”

Mr. Radcliffe answered with a grin, “Sure! Clearly we believe in ‘the more the merrier’ around here.”

“What about my tech?” Carlos asked, knowing the question sounded feeble even in his own ears.

“What about it?” Mr. Radcliffe replied, confusion flashing through his eyes.

“Isn’t Little London kind of like Camelot Heights? You guys don’t really do wifi, television…” He trailed off when he saw that Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe were both already shaking their heads.

“That’s a common misconception,” Mrs. Radcliffe allowed, taking the towel from Carlos, and drying her hands. “But it is still a misconception. Follow me if you would, please.”

She led them into the family room where dogs were in abundance and opened a disguised compartment in the arm of the couch, pulling out a TV remote as Mr. Radcliffe moved to a bureau at the front of the room and opened up a false front, revealing the bureau drawers to be a door on a television stand.

Mrs. Radcliffe turned the television on with the usual click of a button and turned to Carlos with a smile. “We do have television and wifi, all of us own computers, and we’re willing to set up any additional devices you might regularly use, should you choose to bring them with you… should you choose to stay with us.”

“Oh,” Carlos said simply, looking between the television and the Radcliffes before he tried to ask, “Then why… hide all of this stuff?”

“We don’t hide it, particularly, I don’t think,” Mrs. Radcliffe hummed. “Annie does take a coding class, after all, among other things. It’s just that no one bothers to ask; like with Lily, people choose to judge off first glance most of the time.”

“Mostly,” Mr. Radcliffe said with a self-deprecating smirk. “We just keep everything set up like this for the _aesthetic_. We do like our aesthetic here in Little London, after all.”

Mrs. Radcliffe smiled, agreeing, “Indeed.” Then she turned the TV back off, and she and her husband tucked everything away once again before she commented, “But I’d imagine you’d like to see your room before you come to any decisions? You’re allowed to decorate it if you’d like. We do understand that your – to borrow Roger’s word – aesthetic isn’t the same as ours, after all.”

That brought a whole new question to Carlos’ mind, and he looked at the Radcliffes with startled eyes, asking, “Would I have to wear…” then he caught himself, tried to proceed with caution. “Little London clothes when I was here?”

“No,” Mrs. Radcliffe rushed to assure him, as Mr. Radcliffe grinned at what must’ve been a funny picture in his mind. “We’re not asking you to take on our culture, only our family.”


	4. Chapter 4

Carlos went straight to Mal and Evie’s dorm room when he got back to campus, rushing inside without preamble as he blurted, “It was the Radcliffes!”

“Yes,” Mal said, giving him a startled look as she closed her textbook. “Of course, you can come in, Carlos, thank you for asking.”

Carlos and Evie both ignored her as Evie said to him, “Yeah, we knew you were having dinner with them. You were the one who told us that, remember? How’d it go?”

“No,” Carlos sat heavily on the edge of Mal’s bed. “You don’t understand. I had dinner with the Radcliffes because they wanted to invite me to live _with them. They_ are the family that wants to take me in.”

Both girls sat back, thinking through that for a second before Evie offered, “In a way, it makes sense. So that you know, Cruella has no family in Auradon, and she and Mrs. Radcliffe were friends back when they were in school, so if she’s the only person here who still has a connection to Cruella… why _shouldn’t_ they offer to help you if they are willing?”

 _It sounded far less insane when she put it like that,_ Carlos ceded to himself.

“I… would bet it’s more than that,” Mal admitted thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” Carlos asked.

“It’s a good political move, too, right? Anita Radcliffe is fully geared up to be a one-woman army under the banner of the ILD, and more power to her, I don’t dislike the idea of having some help in getting people off the Isle. Personally taking in the first VK to be placed by the ILD proves that she really believes in this program, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” Carlos realized, picking at his fingernails.

“That is not to say,” Mal reached for his hands, making him stop the nervous tick as she realized how he’d taken what she’d said. “That’s the only reason why she’s doing it, because I _don’t_ believe that she’d take in a kid just for the looks of it. If she says she wants to help, I really can believe that she wants to help you. She’s… nice.” Mal raised her eyebrows, repeating, “Like, really nice, and she doesn’t seem to be the sort of person who’d lie like that.”

Carlos squeezed Mal’s hand gratefully before he asked her and Evie, “What do you think I should do?”

“Do you like them?” Evie asked immediately.

“Yeah,” Carlos smiled softly. “They’re fun. Annie, their daughter, can be cranky, but I knew that already just from seeing her around school, so it’s fine.”

“What about all the dogs?” Mal asked dubiously.

Carlos shrugged, admitting, “They don’t bother me as much as I thought they would. Some of them are actually really cool, like Lily. She’s got the neatest face, but…” he shrugged. “Not a lot of people in Auradon agree, apparently, but who cares, because she’s the sweetest.” He grinned, adding, “And they said I could bring Dude and my tech, and they let me ask as many questions as I wanted without it bothering them, and—” He paused, seeing the way the girls’ expressions where changing. “What?”

“Come here,” Evie requested, standing in front of the full-length mirror. “Look at your face.” Carlos obeyed, letting her lean into him as she pointed out, “You look excited to me.”

And he did, he realized to his own surprise; his smile was wide, and his eyes were bright, and he _liked_ the people he’d spent the evening with.

“Forget what we think for a second,” Mal demanded, asking, “Is this what _you_ want?”

Carlos glanced over at her, then back at Evie through the mirror before he nodded hesitantly. “Yeah,” he concluded even as he voiced it aloud. “I think it is.”

“Then that’s good enough for us,” Evie declared, kissing him on the cheek before she asked brightly, “So, when do we help you move?”

Carlos chuckled. “I don’t think it’s going to be like that. School’s still in session for now, so most of my things are going to stay here for now, and what I bring to their house on the weekends, I just happen to bring. No moving van necessary.”

“Alright,” Evie agreed.

Mal asked, “So, when are you going to tell the Radcliffes? And do Jay and Ben know? What about Jane?”

Carlos turned out of Evie’s embrace as he said, “You have a point. I’m going to go talk to Jane, Jay, and Ben, then I’ll call the Radcliffes and give them my answer.”

“Sounds good,” Mal declared. As he went out the door, she called, “And hey.”

“Yeah?”

She smiled encouragingly at him as he looked over his shoulder. “Good luck, ‘Los.”

He grinned in return. “Thanks.”

* * *

_The Radcliffes were making this shockingly easy_ , Carlos thought to himself as he came into the kitchen on his first Friday evening with them the next weekend. They weren’t making a big deal out of his being with them – which he would’ve hated; they were just letting him be a part of what they already did. The four of them had made dinner together, eaten, then retired to the family room. He and Annie were sitting on the floor across from one another at a coffee table, doing their homework while Mrs. Radcliffe wrote a letter and Mr. Radcliffe tinkered on his piano.

Then Mr. Radcliffe stood to move towards the fireplace, lighting a pipe that was setting on the mantle. Carlos paused, tensing so automatically that he didn’t even realize he’d done so.

Annie noticed, though, tapping the table with her pencil to try and get his attention. Her understated attempt didn’t work, so, as Mr. Radcliffe puffed on the pipe, she reached out, brushing a hand on Carlos’ wrist atop the table. He jumped guiltily, looking at her with wide eyes as he remembered to breathe.

“Are you okay?” she mouthed, an embarrassing – and surprising – amount of concern in her eyes.

Carlos nodded emphatically, taking a deep, silent breath as he turned his gaze back to his homework. _The pipe smoke smelled different,_ he rationalized. _And surely there was no way to burn a kid with a pipe the way Cruella had regularly burned him with her cigarettes. Of course not, short of dumping the burned tobacco on their skin._

He glanced at Annie’s arms anyway, automatically checking – though for what he wasn’t entirely sure – only to see that her arms were covered by her long-sleeved blouse.

 _It was stupid that it even bothered him in the first place_ , he decided with a firmness to his inner monologue that he didn’t actually feel.


	5. Chapter 5

He drew in another silent breath, then a third, regulating his breathing with a practiced force of will as he read the same question on his homework until he was able to comprehend what he was reading, until his anxiety receded to nothing more than the usual, almost-ignorable knot that lived in the pit of his stomach.

Lying beside Mr. Radcliffe’s piano, Pongo barked softly at a pitch that differed from the one some of his children were using throughout the house. Lily trotted into the room with her head held high with curiosity.

Curious in his own right, Carlos watched her survey the room, eyeing him in particular before she came over to sniff directly at his face. He laughed nervously, not used to being eye to eye with a dog, and gently nudged her nose away from his ear. “What’s the matter, Lily?” he asked, petting her head like he had when he’d been here the first time.

Lily whined quietly, her eyes still questioning something, and she licked his cheek before turning her face nervously away from him.

_Was she worried he’d chastise her for how she’d shown affection?_

“Hey,” he murmured soothingly. “It’s okay, Lil, you’re alright.”

Lily sighed, relaxing slightly as she lay down at his side and put her head on his thigh.

Carlos continued to pet her with one hand, picking up his pencil in the other as he asked, “What was that about, Lil?”

“She was checking on you,” Mr. Radcliffe observed shrewdly, and the way he was looking at Carlos said he’d caught the exchange with Annie.

Carlos looked guiltily at Mr. Radcliffe, then back at Lily, not sure who he was reassuring as he said, “I’m okay, I promise.”

Still absently petting Lily, Carlos put his pencil to paper and returned to his homework.

* * *

Carlos had just climbed into bed for the night when a knock sounded at his bedroom door. “Yes?” he asked.

Mr. Radcliffe poked his head into the room as Mrs. Radcliffe asked form behind her husband, “Can we come in?”

Carlos shifted nervously. “Sure.”

They came in together, shutting the door behind themselves, and Mrs. Radcliffe stood by the footboard as Mr. Radcliffe sat on the edge of the bed.

“Is everything okay?” Carlos asked, trying to maintain his calm even as his first thought was: _had they already decided they’d made a mistake by inviting him into their home?_

“We were going to ask you the same thing,” Mrs. Radcliffe said gently. “You do know we don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, don’t you?”

“You haven’t!” Carlos automatically rushed to assure them.

Mr. Radcliffe gave him a carefully skeptical look, asking frankly, “Did my smoking my pipe bother you, back in the family room?”

Carlos’ first instinct was automatically to rush to reassurances again, but given how they’d reacted a moment ago, he gave the question real consideration. After a beat of thoughtful silence, he came to the same conclusion would’ve given anyway and said, “No, not really. I freaked out for a second because I don’t like cigarettes, but none of the reasons I dislike cigarettes apply to pipe-smoking, as it turns out.”

Both the Radcliffes relaxed, and Mrs. Radcliffe said, “Oh, that’s good.”

“For the record,” Mr. Radcliffe leaned in conspiratorially towards Carlos. “Anita agrees with you about cigarettes.”

“I do.” Mrs. Radcliffe nodded primly, pointing out, “They stink!”

Carlos smiled thinly. “They do.”

He knew that they’d meant to leave him on that note – an agreement, a light-hearted comment – but something must have flashed across his face, because Mr. Radcliffe’s expression fell into solemnity again as he probed carefully, “Cruella still smokes cigarettes?”

“Whenever she could get them, yes,” Carlos said hesitantly.

“They remind you of her,” Mrs. Radcliffe realized aloud as she sat on the edge of the bed behind Carlos.

He explained carefully, “The smell does, yeah.”

She tilted her head to get a better look at his face, asking softly, “Is there more to it than that?”

His instinct was to say “no,” to placate the adults and keep the conversation on safe, neutral territory if he could. But on either side of him was an earnest, kind, concerned person who _wanted_ to listen to what he had to say – and it wasn’t lost on him that they understood the depths of Cruella DeVil’s cruelty better than most.

He began to scratch at his arm without meaning to – remembering the itch of healing burns – and he clenched his fist to stop when he noticed what he was doing.

Coming from the end of the bed, Dude – who had spent his day socializing with the Dalmatians – wormed his way past Mrs. Radcliffe and into Carlos’ lap as Carlos stared at him while whispering, “She burned me with them.”

“She burned you with the cigarettes?” Mr. Radcliffe repeated, processing slowly, and then turning his face for a second so Carlos couldn’t see the way his eyes blazed with anger.

Unable to look at them in any case, Carlos nodded.

“Oh, Carlos,” Mrs. Radcliffe breathed, and Carlos froze in surprise when she hugged him from behind.

Alerted by his master’s surprise, Dude growled a low warning at the back of his throat.

“It’s okay, Dude, calm down,” Carlos soothed quietly. “We’re safe here. They’re alright.”

* * *

 _And they were_ , Carlos became a little surer with every weekend he spent with the Radcliffes. _They were alright._ Roger, Anita, and Annie were alright people – _good_ people – and he and Dude were alright – _safe_ – around them, and in their home. In a home that he was rapidly coming to consider his _own_ home, as well.

That first night, the open admittance and following conversation about his mom’s abuse had been an unintentional catapult into feeling like he really was getting a different family to call his own. He had a _good_ mom now, and for the first time ever, a dad, and a sister the same age as him – a haphazard sort of twin, Mrs. Radcliffe had said once. He was quickly coming to adore than more than he had ever suspected he would.

Whenever he stopped and looked at it all – looked at what the Radcliffes and the newly-formed Isle of the Lost Division of Auradon’s social services programs had done for him – he was a little in awe, and he definitely couldn’t wait to see with the ILD – and, in his mind, Anita Radcliffe – did next.

**Author's Note:**

> Next up is Mal's story!


End file.
